BookOpinion

Steven Hall’s debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts, has had film rights optioned and has now had its rights sold to 20 different publishers. The book, which is filled with some unique production ideas, has received some decent reviews.

The Boston Globe writes, “The plot of Steven Hall’s debut novel The Raw Shark Texts unlocks like a Chinese puzzle box, each intriguing twist in the story leading to even greater enigmas and a wider sphere of conspiracy and risks…This is not a conventional thriller, but an experimental novel that builds on many of the devices of speculative fiction. Hall takes chances at every corner, and some of his more daring leaps of imagination will present challenges to the filmmakers who will be inevitably attracted to this story given its movie potential.” (Read more)

The novel carried so many unique printing requirements that it was sent to a special press in Italy. “He carries us along in a headlong to rush to test the very edge of what a novel actually is,” Veronique de Turenne says in an NPR podcast review.

“I wanted to write something that would work for different kinds of readers,” Hall says in an SFGate interview. “That’s part of the reason it took me so long. There’s different styles, different kinds of books in this book. The challenge was to balance it and make it a really great story.”

The SFGate summarizes the storyline:

…The basic plot goes like this: A man wakes up in a bedroom. He doesn’t know where he is or what his name is. He doesn’t remember anything. With the help of the wallet in his pocket and a note taped to the phone in the kitchen, he figures out his name is Eric Sanderson and he makes his way to a shrink who informs him that he has dissociative amnesia as a result of his girlfriend Clio Aames dying in scuba-diving accident while they were vacationing in Greece. He goes home and starts receiving letters from the first Eric Sanderson — he is the second — and learns that his memory (life?) has been eaten away by a thought shark called the Ludovician. As a result of the first Eric’s prolonged stay in a “conceptual loop” after Clio’s death, the shark has targeted Eric. It tends to focus on one person and will circle forever. Eric the second learns to ward off the shark with tactics such as taking on the identity of other people (basically memorizing their resumes and demeanors) and securing the perimeters of a room with taped loops of people speaking.

Eventually, though, Eric the second leaves his home to find people who can help rid him of the shark and restore parts of his identity. He meets a woman, Scout, who bears several striking similarities to the lost Clio, tangles with a strange figure called Mr. Nobody and eventually sets sail on the conceptual sea with Clio and the good doctor Trey Fidorous to meet the shark head-on…

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The Guardian Reviews chimes in:

…Yes, this does sound like a novel only a certain type of undergraduate could love, and the list of ultra-cool pastiches is extensive: The Matrix, Memento, Paul Auster, Mark Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves, Chuck Palahniuk, and especially Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. And The Raw Shark Texts only really takes off in its last part, when Hall goes for broke and recreates Jaws - not just referencing it, but actually recreating it, plot lines, order of death, climax and everything.

There is, however, an exuberance here that keeps the self-conscious cult aspects from getting irritating. Hall acknowledges his influences directly and with enthusiasm, and his whimsy with typeface and page layout is usually to a purpose. Even the 50-page flipbook of an approaching shark late in the novel is surprisingly effective and chilling in context. And though his romantic dialogue is hackneyed, he’s an effective writer of both horror and adventure…

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In an effort to help get the book more noticed, the publishers have invested in a online marketing game at LostEnvelope. The game consists of various clues around the web, with pictures here at flickr and YouTube videos such as the blinking lights below:

From Audible.com: “What’s better: the movie or the audio program?”

1. The Namesake
   by Jhumpa Lahiri
2. Hannibal Rising
   by Thomas Harris
3. L.A. Confidential
   by James Ellroy
4. Notes on a Scandal: What Was She Thinking?
   by Zoe Heller
5. The Children of Men
   by P.D. James
6. The Pursuit of Happyness
   by Chris Gardner
7. The Last King of Scotland
   by Giles Foden
8. The Prestige
   by Christopher Priest
9. The Devil Wears Prada
   by Lauren Weisberger
10. The Freedom Writers Diary
    by The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell

The audio version of these book are all available for instant download at Audible.com:

Al Gore’s new book “The Assault on Reason” is now ranked as No. 3 on Amazon’s bestseller list. The book was released last week and has been climbing the charts.

The New York Times writes:

…Mr. Gore’s central argument is that “reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions” and that the country’s public discourse has become “less focused and clear, less reasoned.” This “assault on reason,” he suggests, is personified by the way the Bush White House operates. Echoing many reporters and former administration insiders, Mr. Gore says that the administration tends to ignore expert advice (be it on troop levels, global warming or the deficit), to circumvent the usual policy-making machinery of analysis and debate, and frequently to suppress or disdain the best evidence available on a given subject so it can promote predetermined, ideologically driven policies……When Mr. Gore turns to the larger cultural and social reasons behind the decline of reason in America’s marketplace of ideas, his arguments become fuzzier and less convincing. His argument that radio was essential to the rise and reign of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini (“without the introduction of radio, it is doubtful that these totalitarian regimes would have commanded the obedience of the people in the manner they did”) is highly reductive, just as his argument that television has enabled politicians to manipulate mass opinion while preventing individuals from taking part in the national dialogue seems overly simplistic.

As for his conviction that the Internet can help re-establish “an open communications environment in which the conversation of democracy can flourish,” it plays down the more troubling aspects of the Web, like its promotion of rumor and misinformation alongside real information, and its tendency to fuel polarizing, partisan warfare.

Part civics lesson, part political jeremiad, part philosophical tract, “The Assault on Reason” reveals an angry, impassioned Al Gore — a far cry from the carefully scripted, earth-tone-wearing Al Gore of the 2000 presidential campaign and the programmed “creature of Washington” described in the reporter Bill Turque’s 2000 biography of him, “Inventing Al Gore.”

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Joe Conason chimes in, as well, for the L.A. Times:

…To anyone paying attention over the last few decades, the underlying causes that Gore identifies will be familiar, including the ascendancy of mindless television, the domination of corporate money, the concentration of ownership in influential media and the decline of engaged citizenship. In “The Assault on Reason,” he lingers over those well-worn topics and others, employing the same didactic method that used to provoke irritation or even ridicule during his hotly contested presidential campaign.

Yet Gore’s professorial style, with its touches of sarcasm, omniscient tone, erudite asides, and yes, its occasional exasperated sighs, elicits a different response today than it did seven years ago. Many of the same publications that once poured scorn on him now offer up paragraph after paragraph of admiring prose…

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The New Editor blog pokes fun at the title:

Is anybody else as struck by the irony of the chosen title for Al Gore’s latest book, The Assault on Reason?

This from a politician that once exclaimed that Bill Clinton was “the greatest president ever.”

Or from a politician who as vice president headed up the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, which had as one of its missions the elimination of federal government jobs — more than 80% of which came from the Defense Department…

…Of course the author once famously said, “During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”…

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See who else is blogging about the book, here.

Gore talks about The Assault on Reason on the Daily Show:

The audio version of this book is also available for instant download at these sites:

Book reviewers, librarians and others are coming out with their suggestions for some light, summer reads at the beach. Check out these selections and find something right for you.

The Seattle Times offers up a list of books for the summer:

…Last week, we offered up some stellar light fiction in the “chick lit” vein; this week, it’s a more general compilation of books in a wider assortment of genres that still fit into that vague “beach reads” category: Books that are heavy enough to weigh down your beach towel, but not heavy enough to weigh down your spirits. We rate them here with one to four beach umbrellas — four being the best.

“Sparkles,” by Louise Bagshawe (Plume, $14), Three umbrellas: British bestseller Louise Bagshawe scores with this glittery saga about an heiress to one of Europe’s great jewelry firms. Mild-mannered Sophie Massot, whose charismatic husband, Pierre, left on a trip seven years previously and has never returned, is taking steps to have him declared dead, and surprise everyone around her by taking control of the moribund jewelry business. But has Pierre really expired? Bagshawe throws some surprising twists into a story full of glitz and glamour.

“The Year of Fog,” by Michelle Richmond (Delacorte Press, $20), Four umbrellas: If you read this one at the beach, you’re going to remain within arm’s length of your youngsters. It’s a harrowing, beautifully written story of a photographer and soon-to-be stepmom whose momentary lapse in attention results in the disappearance of her fiancé’s little girl on a foggy beach in San Francisco. What happened to 6-year-old Emma? The answer, and its implications, will keep you on the edge of your beach chair.

“The Witch of Portobello,” by Paulo Coelho (HarperCollins, $24.95), Three-and-a-half umbrellas: The Brazilian-born author of “The Alchemist” returns with this masterly novel about Athena, the illegitimate daughter of a Transylvanian gypsy adopted by well-to-do Lebanese parents.

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The Salt Lake Tribune gives an extensive list of their choices for Summer reading:

…These titles, almost all published within the past six months, cover genres and subject matter for a variety of tastes. Most are under 350 pages; you won’t pull a muscle carrying them to your hammock. In their own way, they’re all page-turners, offering propulsive narratives about love, or murder, or natural disasters, or high school. Several explore the shattering effects of 9/11. A few are best-sellers, but others are books you may not have heard of. Yet.
Here they are. Hope you find something you like.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Harcourt, $22).
This slender novel is the tale of Changez, a young, Princeton-educated Pakistani who enjoys the high life of a New York City banker until Sept. 11, when he suddenly discovers that America isn’t so welcoming toward a dark-skinned Muslim with a beard. As Changez finds himself under increased scrutiny and subject to physical threats, he grows bitter and resentful of his adopted country. By its end this story, narrated to a nameless American over dinner at a cafe in Pakistan, reads like an all-too-timely thriller.

Silent In The Grave (STP - Mira) by Deanna Raybourn (Mira, $21.95).
“To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.” So begins Raybourn’s clever debut, a Victorian mystery about a London widow investigating the murder of her husband while finding surprising romance with a private detective. Mary Moore of the Davis County Library calls the novel “the librarians’ favorite book this month - the one we recommend to each other.”

The White Cascade by Gary Krist (Henry Holt, $26).
Krist is a novelist who brings his storytelling skills to this nonfiction account of a 1910 avalanche that buried two stranded passenger trains in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. The disaster came two years before the …

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Here’s another 15 book recommendations by the Naperville Sun:

…In a sort-of-similar way, there’s reading and then there’s summer reading. The volumes we reach for when it comes time to head for the beach might not inspire our deepest intellectual maneuvers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make for darn fine reading. Known by the experts at the Naperville Public Library as “beach reads,” these works can include both fiction and nonfiction, but the idea is that they not drain the brain too completely.

Here for your consideration, at the suggestion of the library’s staff and the people at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, are assorted titles to consider for tucking into your beach bag alongside the shades and sunscreen.

Fiction
“The Thirteenth Tale” by Diane Setterfield
Reclusive, factually elusive author Vida Winter hires an unknown and seemingly unqualified Margaret Lea to write her biography. Both women have closets inhabited by ghosts, some of which are revealed as the tale unfolds.

“Natural Born Charmer” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips The Naperville novelist’s newest work describes the encounter between a Chicago football player benched with an injury and the plucky heroine, and the road trip the unlikely pair takes together in the jock’s spunky sports car.

“Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette” by Sara Jeter Naslund
The musings of the famed young queen and her days in the court are surmised in fictionalized autobiographical style.

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
A gritty, lavish account of an orphaned young man who runs off and joins the circus…

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Workers printing J. K. Rowling’s ”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” are apparently being forced to work in total darkness to prevent leaks of the new novel, which is scheduled to be released on July 21.

Some select fans will be invited to attend a midnight reading by Rowling of Harry Potter 7. The reading is said to last until dawn with the book read in its entirety. Fans can enter a sweepstakes with a chance to be included among those select few at the reading.

Barnes & Noble, the largest bookseller in the U.S., said it expects sales volume will be higher in the second quarter because of sales of the new Harry Potter novel.

If all that isn’t enough to convince you that the Harry Potter mania is going full throttle, there’s more:

The Royal Mail is marking the Harry Potter series finale with millions of first-class stamps featuring images from the covers of the seven books. The Royal Mail said it was “proud to commemorate and celebrate an illustrious British author and a true global publishing phenomenon”.

At Lawrence University in Appelton, Wisc., students can actually attend a course titled “Thinking about Harry Potter” during the fall semester. It will be taught by Edmund Kern, author of “The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices”.

“Today’s college students are like no others in history,” Kern says in an HPANA interview. “They had the chance to grow up right along with Harry Potter. I’d be foolish to pass up the teaching opportunities that those circumstances offer me.”

And, finally, an 86-year-old man’s dying wish is to read the final Harry Potter book. “He accepts what’s coming,” his daughter said. “He just wants to read that book first.” A hospital contacted Rowling, who wrote the man, but no such luck. Rowling says the release rights belong to the publisher. He’ll have to read it when it comes out, too. Hang in there, buddy!

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: Who is Jesus? C.S. Lewis gives us three options: He was insane, he was a liar or he is who he claimed he was…the only begotten son of God. That’s a fairly succinct conclusion. And what about the “missing years” in the life of Jesus? What was he like as a child? Anne Rice expounds on the last theory and has written with a touching pen her latest novel, “Christ the Lord Out of Egypt,” recently released in paperback.

Around 2,000 years ago, in the great city of Alexandria, the streets wind around glorious pagan temples and magnificent buildings of marble and stone. In the warm, golden sun, you walk through the bustling markets with sounds of bartering and exchange, and experience the warm scents of fresh fish, exotic fruits, pomegranates, glistening, plump olives, the sweet aroma of dates and musky perfume. And on certain days when the wind is in the right direction, you can lift your head and a delicious, tangy, salty odor wafts about, tantalizing your senses, and you think of the sea not so far away. Following the winding, thriving avenues, eventually you will arrive at the Street of the Carpenters, home of Joseph, his wife Mary, his son James and young Jesus. Included in this household is a close, extended family of brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins who practice Judaism in its’ traditional form in a foreign land.

“I was seven years old.” Thus begins this inspiring, year long story of the life of young Jesus, reared as a normal Jewish boy, taught by Jewish scholars and adhering to Jewish customs. He begins to discern, even at his young age, a difference between himself and the other children around him. There is a mystery that surrounds him of which no one will speak.

When Joseph receives foreknowledge of the death of Herod in Jerusalem, he determines to remove his entire family of carpenters and artisans to the village of Nazareth in the Holy Land. They are going home!

Filled with joy at the prospect, the entire family prayerfully prepares and embarks on this pilgrimage, striving to arrive in Jerusalem in time for the purification. But all is not well…the journey is perilous with confrontations of marauding bands of thieves and murderers who are attempting to overthrow Roman rule in Israel. And the sight of hundreds of crucifixions along the way add to the sorrow and fear suffered by the family of Joseph.

Finally, arriving at the village of Nazareth, they are amazed to find the site virtually uninhabited…until Old Sarah, the great aunt of Mary, emerges from the shadows of the house where they are to live and welcomes them with fervor and love. From here, the story revolves around day-to-day life in the village, working at carpentry, repairing the many ravaged homes and receiving teaching in the local synagogue. Jesus loves it all…he loves the crisp green grass and the endless hills and the gnarled olive trees – the freshness of the land. Here, he feels even closer to God and their relationship begins to expand.

But Jesus is troubled and eventually James, the son of Joseph, confides to Jesus his origin…the memories of the rustic stable, the ornately clad men who journeyed from the Orient with rich gifts and the stunned but joyful shepherds who came to worship the babe sleeping in his mother’s arms. And James has a terrible confession …one that will either cement or break their relationship.

“Christ the Lord” is an unbelievable departure for Anne Rice. Author of such well known novels as “Interview with the Vampire”, “The Queen of the Damned” and “Lasher”, Ms. Rice has made a huge leap into a different realm with her latest book. It’s obvious that she has meticulously researched the period as well as experienced a personal change in her life that gave her the desire to write such a poignant, lovely story. “Christ the Lord” is indeed a fictionalized account of the early years in the young boy, Jesus, but Anne Rice brings it to life in a way that is entrancing, fascinating and honest. It feels a bit slow in parts but I believe that it was necessary to set the stage as realistically as possible. I think you will really love this book…I did and I look forward to Anne Rice continuing this saga in the near future.

– Elizabeth Channery

The full audio version of Christ the Lord and an ebook version is also available for instant download at these sites:

These are the top 15 titles sold as ebooks from eBooks.com:

1. “The Rake and the Rebel” by Mary Brendan
2. “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne
3. “Einstein” by Walter Isaacson
4. “To Rescue A Rogue” by Jo Beverley
5. “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss
6. “No More Mr. Nice Guy!” by Robert A. Glover
7. “Dark Lover” by J.R. Ward
8. “Cross” by James Patterson
9. “God Is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens
10. “The Leopard Prince” by Elizabeth Hoyt
11. “Beyond Innocence” by Emma Holly
12. “Gone” by Jonathan Kellerman
13. “The Marriage Bed” by Laura Lee Guhrke
14. “Getting Things Done” by David Allen
15. “Slaughterhouse Five” By Kurt Vonnegut

The full ebook versions of these titles are available for instant download at this site: